Bula from Suva

June 15, 2007 Suva, Fiji

I finally made it! After 10 hours of grueling/little sleep plane ride to Fiji, I'm here! I got off the plane and the birds were chirping, it wasn't even light yet. I took a 3 hr. bus ride from the airport to Nadi around a portion of the island and got a nice intro to some Fiji island facts from a tour guide. We had to make lots of stops at different resorts and stop offs for tourists along the way. From what I got on the bus ride the island is really pretty. Nice long barrier reefs surround the island with crystal clear water, and there is a dry section and a wet section that we drove through. They do a lot of farming of taro, kassava, and sugarcane. The wet section is so lush. it's like Costa Rica, really hilly and thick with vines and trees of all sorts.
Once I made it to Suva I took a short $3.00 taxi ride to the yacht club and the Infinity dinghy picked me up when I called on the radio. Another girl from France is coming today but we haven't met up with her yet. So on the boat....everyone is really nice, it seems like lot of people already. I keep meeting new people, its hard to keep track of them all. P.S. Absolutely no privacy....except in the shower or the head. Paul warned me about that but I didn't think much of it. I got all moved in and toured the boat today, and I'm just kind of hanging out for now. I'm bunking in 'paradise' (not even close! so hot..and cramped!) with 4 other people. When the girl from France comes it will be me, her, and Julia from Papua New Guinea who is really nice, and two guys, Fred and James. Check them out online on the crew page www.pcrf.org. I think they put the newbies in 'paradise'.
OK, so I know how to use a head, but not without TP! like a baduae! (not sure if that's how you spell it, but you know the French thing..) Ya, so I guess some people use TP, I'll be one of those...I tried it w/o and was totally grossed out. Miss everyone from home! This will take some getting used to. P.S. the video on the Internet of the boat makes it look so huge! It's not really that big down below. Really missing$Z and the parents..OK so I'll try to make the next blog shorter. The girl from France looks nice, she just got here. She looks in her late 20s I think.
So I don't feel like I can keep clean....the hippyness is sinking in. The girl from France is named Agate. Dinner tonight was a formal dinner. Real different...everyone walked around in a circle before dinner singing whatever they wanted, we all served ourselves dinner and then sat down and no one is allowed to say a word until after dinner where the table is open and people talk about anything. It's a Friday night thing. Different nights of the week there are different dinners. The food was really great though. This French guy Michele used to be a gourmet cook in a nice restaurant in France. We had salad, chicken, local eggplant, pasta, and bananas and pineapples in coconut milk for dessert. All 13 of us sit on the floor in the main room on pillows with a mat for a table.